Tish Cyrus isn’t holding back when discussing her divorce!
Perezcious readers will recall the famous couple went through a ton of ups and downs throughout their 30-year marriage. Billy Ray Cyrus first filed for divorce in 2010. However, the pair quickly reconciled afterward. Tish then moved to end their relationship in 2013… but once again the pair chose to work things out. It wasn’t until 2022 that Tish filed for divorce a final time — and it stuck. But the turning point in their marriage actually happened two years prior, during the coronavirus pandemic, when Miley Cyrus‘s mom “took a really good hard look” at her life.
Related: Miley Cyrus Snubs Dad In Grammys Acceptance Speech — Still Feuding?!
On the latest episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, the 56-year-old recalled being all alone when Billy Ray moved to Tennessee while she stayed in Los Angeles with their daughters Miley and Noah Cyrus during COVID-19. That time by herself was “hugely transformative” for Tish as she realized her marriage to the country singer wasn’t in a “good place” and hadn’t been for a while:
“It had not been in a good place for a long time. I think I did stay so long out of fear. Literal fear of being alone. I met him when I [was] 24. So I, like, grew up … [and] he was such a huge part of that. Then being alone and all of a sudden just having kind of the weight of the world off my shoulders in some ways and [I] was able to just breathe.”
However, her life alone during those two years also came with some difficult challenges. When Tish got used to being on her own, her biggest fear happened. She lost her mom, Loretta Finley, in August 2020. And the loss sent her into a very dark place:
“I had to go through it alone, and I literally can’t believe I did that. It was so crazy. My two biggest fears in life were being alone and my mom passing away. I had, like, one month of a — honestly — complete psychological breakdown. It was the worst thing. Honestly … it was not good. I could not eat. I could not sleep. I could not stop crying. I literally weighed, like, 103 lbs. … I don’t have my mom and then I don’t have my husband [who’s] been my husband for 30 years.”
Oof. Going through these experiences, though, ultimately gave her the strength to leave her marriage. Looking back, Tish knew her relationship with Billy Ray truly “fell apart” when she stopped “changing” herself to make things work:
“When it actually fell apart is when I stopped [changing myself]. When I stopped doing that, it was over. [I was] looking at myself being like, ‘What in the heck are you doing?’ So I literally just had made that firm decision, and I was like, ‘I’m moving on with my life.’ You know what, girl? It worked out for the best.”
Now, Tish has found love and happiness with Prison Break star Dominic Purcell. The two got married in August 2023.
When she compares her relationship with the Aussie hunk to her marriage with Billy Ray, she realizes she put up with “disrespect in every form” from her ex-husband:
“Disrespect just lays it out in so many ways. I [didn’t] even know — until I had a new relationship [where] there was so much respect — how much disrespect there was in my marriage before. Honestly, on both our parts.”
Whoa! What does she mean by “disrespect in every form?” Brandi Cyrus, who joined her mom on Call Her Daddy, pointed out there was a big change in her parents’ relationship over the years. While the twosome were “so touchy and so lovey” at first, Brandi, now 36, later realized Billy Ray did some “hurtful” things to Tish:
“I’ll never forget, I was 25 and I was filming a movie in New York and he was there doing Broadway. It was, kind of, the first time that it opened my eyes to see some of the things that he was doing that I didn’t know before. It was hurtful to see him doing it to her. It was hurtful to see him hiding it from me.”
What?! Neither Brandi nor Trish specified what happened. The DJ later clarified:
“I never first-hand saw anything go down, by any means. But [I] tried to be a peacemaker.”
Hmm. What would she have seen? It kind of sounds like she’s implying cheating, right? It wouldn’t shock us, given the seriously sketchy way her dad met his new gal… on the set of Hannah Montana!
Billy Ray hasn’t addressed what Tish said on the podcast. But we can imagine he wasn’t too pleased with the hints Brandi and Tish dropped about their marriage troubles. Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments.
[Image via Call Her Daddy/Instagram, The Kelly Clarkson Show/YouTube]